Talk:Wind Mage (3.5e Class)
A note on the class features[edit]
In general, the class features of the wind mage are based on those of the pyromaniac. I directly copy-pasted class features over wherever reasonable, replacing references to fire with air. (The major exception is the wind bullet, which I made major tweaks to; compared to the pyromaniac's fire bolt, the wind mage's wind bullet is designed to do less raw damage but have more tactical utility.) Where a class feature couldn't be transcribed directly, I came up with another class feature of similar power (and analogous effect if possible). For instance, setting fire to water is an ability roughly equivalent in power to manipulating air where there is no air, and both involve using the element of choice in a way that should be completely impossible.
| What is an opportunity cost? |
| The concept of "opportunity cost" is one that is familiar to biologists such as myself, but may not be familiar to gamers. Let me give an example of an opportunity cost in D&D: all feats have an opportunity cost, because you can only take a feat at 1st level and once every three levels thereafter, outside of bonus feats. The opportunity cost for taking a feat is sacrificing an opportunity to take another feat. Essentially, an opportunity cost is incurred any time you have to make a permanent, binding decision. |
The forced AoO aspect that the wind bullet gains at 12th level was originally there at 1st level. I changed this for two reasons. First and foremost, I figured that forcing enemies to provoke attacks of opportunity at will might not be level-appropriate for a 1st-level character, especially if there's no opportunity cost involved. (If you don't know what I mean by an "opportunity cost", that's what I put the sidebar in for.) Forcing foes to provoke AoOs at will also more than makes up for reducing a 1d6 attack to a 1d4 attack, and I want the wind bullet to be more or less equally useful as an eldritch blast or fire bolt (sure, the wind bullet does more damage if it knocks an enemy off a cliff, but with just 5 feet of pushback, how often is that going to happen, especially against an enemy with half a brain?). The second reason is that I wanted to improve the wind bullet at 12th level in a way that would give the wind mage a power boost equal to that the pyromaniac gains by increasing the damage over time he inflicts by setting foes on fire and making those fires nearly impossible to put out, and an extra 5 feet of pushback wouldn't cut it on its own. The answer? Put the "make foes provoke AoOs at will" ability back. The wind bullet, in comparison to the fire bolt and eldritch blast, is meant to sacrifice some raw power for improved tactical utility, which is the concept behind giving it pushback in the first place (that, and knocking people around is an extremely appropriate ability for a wind-based attack to have). Making foes provoke attacks of opportunity is an ability whose usefulness is very situational, and would have to be applied tactically (ideally, with a lot of friends nearby) to unlock its full power. On the other hand, the wind mage can do it with his bread-and-butter attack, while the pyromaniac's fire bolt doesn't set foes on fire on its own, forcing the pyromaniac to use ignitions or advanced class features to enjoy the benefit of Unquenchable Flame. --Luigifan18 (talk) 18:37, 22 October 2015 (UTC)
